What to Watch on Shudder: Dracula (1958) and More

Films that include vampires, waxworks and bogeymen all feature in this week’s guide to what to watch on Shudder…

What to Watch on Shudder: Dracula (1958)

Hammer’s 1958 version of Dracula is one of the seminal adaptations of Bram Stoker’s classic novel. Known as Horror of Dracula in the United States, the film sees the first outing of Christopher Lee as the iconic vampire. Hammer’s interpretation of Dracula really emphasises the seductive nature of the title character. Gone are the less savoury descriptions that can be found in the novel. Dracula is both ruthless and seductive in this 1958 version. Like most adaptations of Stoker’s most famous work, there are a number of difference between the book and the film. Nevertheless, the gothic reigns supreme; the themes of otherness and duality are prominent. Dracula is one of the classic vampire films, and features perhaps the best-known Van Helsing: Peter Cushing. Read a full review here.

What to Watch on Shudder: Waxwork

Anthony Hickox’s Waxwork feels very much of its decade. Released in 1988, the film is probably best described as a camp horror. Waxwork focuses on a group of older teens who are invited to a party at a Waxwork museum which has mysteriously popped up in their suburban town. Featuring some of the great horror icons, the name of the game is to stay alive. Those looking for real chills may be disappointed as the emphasis of Hickox’s film is on comedy horror. There is some gore and trepidation, however film concentrates on fun aspects of the premise. This is supplemented by the who’s who of the horror world; Count Dracula, Jack the Ripper, Mr Hyde and many more. Starring Gremlins’ Zach Galligan, Waxwork is a great choice for a not so serious horror.

What to Watch on Shudder: Child Eater

Writer-director Erlingur Thoroddsen’s short Child Eater certainly does not shy away from the macabre. The film is about a young boy who is having nightmares about a bogeyman, and the babysitter who must protect him. Child Eater combines a number of horror tropes – the urban legend, the monster in the closet, the gory climax – in a most compelling fashion. Refreshingly, the film does not give the ending many may expect. Thoroddsen remade the short as a feature-length film in 2016.

To find out more and to sign up to Shudder, visit https://www.shudder.com.

What To Watch on Shudder: The Mummy and More

There are frights aplenty on horror streaming platform Shudder. Here’s what to what to watch on Shudder this week, featuring The Mummy (1959), Battle Royale, and short Jack Attack…

What to Watch on Shudder: The Mummy (1959)

Ahead of next week’s release of action-horror remake The Mummy, check out the 1959 Hammer version. The film was released by the studio one year after Dracula, and features the classic Hammer pairing of Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee. This version’s plot varies slightly from the 1932 Universal film, but the crux remains the same. Terence Fisher’s film offers plenty of that Hammer charm, even if the ‘brown face’ makes the film feel dated. The title character itself is a pretty horrifying concoction. This is one thing that hasn’t aged.

What to Watch on Shudder: Battle Royale

Battle Royale is a Japanese horror classic. The 2000 film’s influence can be seen most prominently in the The Hunger Games series of films. Battle Royale is about forty-two school students sent to a deserted island, who are forced to compete until only one survives. If this dystopian premise is not horrifying enough, director Kinji Fukasaka does not skimp on the gore. The film is visceral, yet not without a satirical dark humour. Controversial at the time of its release, Battle Royale certainly packs a punch.

What to Watch on Shudder: Jack Attack

2013 short Jack Attack is worth nine minutes of your time. Written and directed by Bryan Norton and Antonio Padovan, the film has won a number of awards at genre film festivals. Jack Attack is about a young boy and his babysitter who decide to carve a pumpkin on Halloween. To say anymore would give the game away. Suffice to say, the film has a freaky outcome with some decent special effects.

To find out more and to sign up to Shudder, visit https://www.shudder.com.

Film Review: The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

Peter Jackson’s final instalment of the Tolkien franchise, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies offers similar strengths and weaknesses to the director’s previous concluding film The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.

Bilbo Baggins, Thorin Oakenshield and his band of dwarves have roused the dragon Smaug, who flies out to destroy Lake Town. Meanwhile, the mountain and its riches attracts various armies…

The third and final part of The Hobbit, The Battle of the Five Armies functions as a prolonged climactic scene. The majority of the duration is filled with this action, allowing for cutaways to other key players in Tolkien’s universe.

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies begins in the midst of the action, carrying on straight after the end of The Desolation of Smaug. The opening gambit is an impressive one; viewers are launched immediately into a frantic episode. The sustained nature of the film’s central battle, however, loses the peaks and troughs expected of an adventure such as this. As the fighting lasts for much of the duration, it is difficult for viewers to muster the excitement these sequences usually bring. Battle sequences are finely executed, but the duration does hinder enjoyment.

There is some appealing foreshadowing in The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, which should please fans of The Lord of the Rings. The characterisation in the film is decent, although Bilbo’s earnestness  is overplayed at times. Production values are up to the standard expected from director Peter Jackson.

There are some great individual sequences in the film, even though there is a lack of momentum building overall. Cate Blanchett and Christopher Lee reprise their roles with aplomb. The film maintains a sombre atmosphere, with a few breaks for humour.

Whilst An Unexpected Journey moved at a glacial pace in terms of action, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies offers an abundance of action. The Hobbit trilogy may not be as satisfying as The Lord of the Rings, but the films still offer decent entertainment for fantasy fans.

Gothic at the British Film Institute

Last week the British Film Institute launched their Gothic project; the longest running season of film screenings and events ever held. The season commences in August, with the BFI Monster Weekend at the British Museum among other events. The full programme is yet to be announced, but here are some recommendations of films to see during the season…

The Haunting

Robert Wise’s 1963 haunted house movie is a genuinely unnerving experience. Locating the horror both internally and externally, The Haunting hurls its 1999 remake into the shade.

Dracula

The quintessential Hammer Horror movie, Dracula introduces Christopher Lee as Bram Stoker’s vampire count. The film is an excellent introduction to Hammer, as well as exhibiting the key traits of Gothic.

The Innocents

Another haunted house film, The Innocents is deeply unsettling. Based on  Henry James’ The Turn of the Screw, Jack Clayton’s film is a masterclass in psychological horror.

The Cabinet of Dr Caligari

The Cabinet of Dr Caligari is one of the finest examples of German Expressionism. The 1920 silent film is far reaching in its influence. As important as the visuals is the truly Gothic narrative of The Cabinet of Dr Caligari.

The British Film Institute’s Gothic season runs from August 2013 to January 2014. For more information on screenings and events can be found here.

Film Review: Dracula (1958)

Hammer’s 1958 classic Dracula (Horror of Dracula in the US) gets a Blu-Ray release featuring both the 2007 BFI restoration and the 2012 Hammer restoration.

Jonathan Harker travels to Count Dracula’s castle under the guise of working as his new librarian. After Harker’s attempt to vanquish Dracula, the vampire travels to the nearby town and sets his sights on the family of Harker’s fiancee…

Like most cinematic adaptations of Bram Stoker’s seminal novel, Hammer’s Dracula makes a number of alterations. Characters are combined, and some omitted altogether. Nevertheless, the essence of the novel still shines through. The general premise remains the same, even if the locations and character differ.

Hammer’s interpretation of Dracula really emphasises the seductive nature of the title character. Gone are the less savoury descriptions that can be found in the novel. Dracula is both ruthless and seductive in this 1958 version. It is a theme that Hammer continued to highlight as their series of Dracula films went on.

Like most vampire films, Dracula is not actually frightening. What the film works with is a sense of foreboding. The Gothic reigns supreme; the themes of otherness and duality are prominent. Rather than terrifying viewers, Dracula makes them uneasy. The title character is more complex than some of the other movie monsters.

Christopher Lee delivers a commanding performance in one of his most famous roles. Peter Cushing is excellent as Van Helsing, while Michael Gough is well cast in one of his early feature-film roles. There is a strong use of colour in Dracula, which is enhanced on Blu-Ray. The 2012 restoration adds a few moments, most notably the very climax of the film. For this alone, fans of the 1958 film should aim to view this restoration.

Dracula is released on 3-disc Double Play, with a host of extra features, on 18th March 2013.

Hugo Trailer

Martin Scorsese’s Hugo is the director’s first ever 3D film. Based on Brian Selznick’s The Adventures of Hugo Cabaret, the film marks a departure from the adult-orientated fare we have become accustomed to from Scorsese. An interesting but tenuously related fact: several months ago I was at post-production studio De Lane Lea for a screening. As I was getting a drink at the bar, I was told Christopher Lee had just walked through to leave, but I didn’t him as I was facing the opposite way. Lee was recording voice work for Hugo, apparently. It is perhaps a good thing I was not aware, as I probably would have shouted “There’s Dracula!”, or something equally inappropriate. We can see how Christopher Lee’s performance turns out when Hugo is released in cinemas on 2nd December 2011.

Film Review: The Resident

The Resident should leave you questioning the safety of your home and who has access to it. Instead, it is more likely to leave you questioning why you spent ninety minutes watching this tripe.

ER doctor Juliet is looking for a new apartment after her husband cheats on her. Finding a spacious but very affordable place in Brooklyn, Juliet can’t believe her luck. Her good fortune is short lived however, as someone is watching her from within her apartment…

The Resident has numerous factors conspiring against it. Most important of these is the fact that the film is not actually frightening at all. There is certainly an air of creepiness to proceedings, but the film fails to generate any genuine scares. Scenes that should cause apprehension fall flat thanks to lacklustre direction from Antti Jokinen. Instead, the film is voyeuristic but lacks a sense of trepidation.

The Resident owes a great debt to Psycho with its plot. The narrative is a lot less credible than Hitchcock’s film, however. There are some standard horror movie set-ups; the phone without reception, for example. The violence is kept to a minimum until the climax. The voyeurism is at best unsettling, though it never crosses over to become genuinely troubling.

The Resident is not exactly what would be expected from Hammer Film Productions. It has the guise of a horror film, but in reality it is a more straightforward thriller (albeit without the thrills). The film stars Christopher Lee in a small role, adding to this horror pedigree. Nonetheless, while Lee seems to bring a certain gravitas to all his films (from Horror Hotel to The Lord of the Rings), even he cannot save The Resident. Moreover, Lee is underused in a role that is pretty pointless except for the exposition that the character supplies.

One of the few positives of The Resident is the cinematography. Guillermo Navarro creates an atmospheric tone for the film with a considered visual style. Most of the film’s creepiness can be attributed to Navarro’s cinematic prowess. The score meanwhile is overused at times, attempting to force anxiety where there is none.

Hilary Swank is as competent as ever in The Resident. The actress is also an executive producer of the film, which may explain her involvement with a picture far from her usual fare. Jeffrey Dean Morgan is decent as landlord Max.

With its extended climax, The Resident ultimately feels a lot longer than ninety minutes. There is an awful long wait for scares that never materialise.

Film Review: Season of the Witch

Inexplicable accents and Nicolas Cage’s inexplicable hair are just two of the more superficial problems with Season of the Witch. The film reeks of corner cutting, and neither the narrative nor the action sequences engage viewers.

Knights Behmen and Felson depart from the Crusades, uneasy with commands to slaughter unarmed people. After arriving in a plague-ravaged village, the knights are asked to transport a young woman accused of witchcraft to a remote monastery. Hoping to rid the village of the plague, danger ensues as the group embarks on a treacherous journey…

The plot of Season of the Witch is fairly typical of the sword and sorcery genre. Any mystery over whether the girl has supernatural powers is annulled by the lack of exposition. Season of the Witch does not provide the audience with a reason to care about the girl’s fate. Equally so, there is a lack of tension in what should be critical scenes, owing to a lack of character development.

The quest narrative employed by Season of the Witch features a number of clichéd set pieces, the outcome of which will surprise few. The inclusion of Kay, a young man who joins the group after the start of their journey, suggests that he will have a decisive role in the film. Although he plays a pivotal role in the climax, screenwriter Bragi F. Schut does not give Kay a reason to embark on the journey. A connection to either the girl or some underlying motivation for putting his life in danger never materialises, thus reducing the credibility of the story further.

Season of the Witch is set in the fourteenth century. At the beginning of the film, a sequence of Crusade battle covering over a decade is depicted. This attempt at historical context is at odds with the indeterminateness of the small village location. Moreover, Behmen and Felson are supposedly English knights, yet there is no attempt to conceal or explain their American accents. The film would have done better to root itself in an imagined past, rather than make reference to historical realities.

There is an over reliance on CGI for both the battle sequences at the beginning and the climactic scenes. The problem with this is that it does not look great, therefore giving Season of the Witch an artificial appearance. The filmmakers should have limited the use of CGI; the battle scenes at the beginning, for example, could have been eliminated or at least dialed down.

Nicolas Cage and Ron Perlman do not give poor performances as Behmen and Felson, but are hindered by a sub-standard script. Likewise, Robert Sheehan as Kay and Claire Foy as the girl are both adequate in their respective roles. Christopher Lee makes a very brief appearance. It is surprising that an actor of his magnitude would opt to star in a dud like Season of the Witch.

Dominic Sena’s film lacks even the momentum that might have compensated for the poor script and synthetic-looking special effects. Season of the Witch is not a painful watch, but neither is it a particularly enjoyable one.

Film Review: Burke and Hare

John Landis’ first feature film for over ten years, Burke and Hare is perfect for those who want a touch of the macabre this Halloween without the frights. It is an interesting tale, but as a black comedy it is not as funny as it should be.

Burke and Hare are two Irishmen struggling to make a living in nineteenth-century Edinburgh. When they need to get rid of the dead body of a lodger, the pair stumbles into a lucrative business providing cadavers for one of Edinburgh’s most prestigious medical schools…

Based on the true story, albeit with a healthy supply of embellishment, Burke and Hare offers a humorous and sympathetic portrayal of the grave robbers. Rather than depict the pair as cold-blooded murders, screenwriters Nick Moorcroft and Piers Answorth instead paint them as opportunists, capitalising on a macabre demand. It is difficult to see how the film would work otherwise, given the tone.

Burke and Hare exudes an air of camp reminiscent of the later Hammer horror films. This is assisted greatly by the supporting a cast, which includes Christopher Lee. Tim Curry is wonderfully camp as Dr Monroe, one of the movie’s villains. Elsewhere, Ronnie Corbett, Tom Wilkinson and Hugh Bonneville play as if they are very much in on the joke. The result is a film that does not take itself too seriously; an attitude that works very well.

Given that Burke and Hare‘s narrative centres on corpses, the presence of gore is unsurprising. However, there is not an excess, and any such depictions are not overly realistic. The film has a limited palette of dark and drab colours, so blood does stand out. It is so bright, nevertheless, that it appears fake rather than shocking. This appears to be the aim of the filmmakers, given that Burke and Hare is a black comedy.

Simon Pegg as Burke and Andy Serkis as Hare are great as the bumbling duo. It is just a shame that they were not given better lines by the screenwriters. Isla Fisher is bubbly as Burke’s love interest Ginny, although her accent is patchy. Jessica Hynes is solid as the sometimes alcoholic Lucky, delivering a number of laughs with her physical comedy.

Not the first film based on the story of the grave-robbing duo, Burke and Hare takes a light-hearted approach to quite a sombre topic. It is just a shame that laughs were not more frequent.